A 61-year-old woman died from her injuries after being stabbed in her home in the Vimont district of Laval, about an hour after police officers came to her home due to the erratic behavior of her nephew and neighbor, relatives testified.
“She went out, she walked on the edge of the carport and she collapsed. I knew she was dead when she fell,” says Jacline Brunet, still in shock, a neighbor who lives just opposite the scene of the tragedy.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Thursday evening, the residence where the murder was committed was still surrounded by orange ribbons installed by the police. In front of the house made up of two apartments, a pile of jumbled objects and medical equipment, where the paramedics tried to resuscitate the victim.
According to information confirmed by the Laval Police Department, the 61-year-old woman was stabbed around 5:30 p.m. in her residence on Rue Paradis, very close to Boulevard Saint-Elzéar Ouest. His death was pronounced at the hospital.
A 30-year-old man was arrested in the same building. It was the victim’s nephew who was arrested, according to two neighbors and a relative met on site.
Nephew’s behavior
The victim, Mireille Martin, was an administrative assistant and occupied the top of the building made up of two apartments.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
The street in which Mireille Martin was stabbed
André Morin, friend and former partner of the victim, says that she had texted him shortly before the tragedy to warn him that she would not be able to show up for a personal meeting and that the police were at her home. due to the erratic behavior of his nephew living downstairs in a separate apartment.
“With the police, [je lui ai] says he has to stay downstairs and there he comes upstairs again,” we could read in a text message from the victim sent around 4:30 p.m., talking about his nephew.
Neighbor Jacline Brunet also confirms the police visit shortly before the tragedy. “There were two police cars and an ambulance with paramedics. But they left without doing anything, their hands were tied,” she says.
“He was shouting: ‘Kill me, kill me!’ ” »
Then, around 5:30 p.m., an hour after the police had arrived, other officers arrived amid a terrible noise, says Jacline Brunet. “I’ve never seen so many police cars, it’s like they’re coming from all sides. »
While officers attempted to resuscitate the victim, other officers attempted to subdue the suspect nearby. “He was shouting: ‘Kill me, kill me!’ ”, remembers with difficulty Aline Breault, who lives with her mother and therefore also witnessed the scene.
“And she’s still a woman,” she adds, regretfully, still shocked by the events and convinced that more must be done to prevent such tragedies.
Still shaken, André Morin struggled to explain the behavior of the nephew, whom the victim saw often and who did not seem to have mental health problems. “I saw him last week and he was still doing very well,” he said.
Late Thursday evening, the Laval Police Department indicated that it had opened an investigation in order to reconstruct the sequence of events, but still did not confirm that its officers had intervened at the victim’s home shortly before the tragedy.
With the collaboration of Daniel Renaud, The Press